2019 Oscars: The Supporting Actress Contenders (March)

Is this finally Amy Adams’ shot? After five nominations and a huge snub for Arrival two years ago, Adams may be poised for her best chance at an Oscar with Backseat. Playing Lynne Cheney, wife of Vice President Dick Cheney (played by Oscar winner Christian Bale), she’ll have by far the best female role in the film but after seeing first set pics of her and knowing that there’s a crazy musical sequence set in the capitol (and really, we shouldn’t have to wait this long for an Enchanted sequel), I can’t see much standing in her way if the movie’s strong and she’s good in it. Unless there’s an issue of category placement. This is the only thing giving me some pause. While the size of her role remains to be seen, if it’s borderline she’ll have a much harder time in lead. Plus, with HBO’s Sharp Objects coming out soon, Adams could have a Nicole Kidman-like run of Emmys, Critics’ Choice, Golden Globes, SAG and Oscars over a one year (but not calendar) period.

As good as Adams’ chances are, she’s going to be given a run for her money by a tremendous slate of contenders this year. Two-time Emmy winner Regina King (ABC’s American Crime) has the juiciest role in Barry Jenkins’ If Beale Street Could Talk and this could be her first Oscar nomination. If the film is strong enough, she could even win.

Watch out for Margot Robbie in Mary Queen of Scots. After crashing the Oscars with her first Best Actress nomination in I, Tonya, Robbie is going deep period with makeup and wigs as Queen Elizabeth I opposite Saoirse Ronan. This is a major role and a perfect afterglow nomination. Focus Features is giving the film a prime awards release date in early November so they’re serious about its chances and just over-performed with its three players this last season (resulting in 14 nominations and three wins).

Claire Foy landed the prime role of Neil Armstrong’s wife in Damien Chazelle’s La La Land follow-up First Man and the classic long-suffering supportive wife is a staple in this category. The SAG-winning actress could find herself with her first nomination here.

After one of the most complete awards runs in recent memory with HBO’s Big Little Lies, Nicole Kidman is back to dominate film awards playing the mother of a boy (played by Oscar nominee Lucas Hedges) sent to gay conversion camp by his parents in Boy Erased.

It’s been 17 years since Sissy Spacek was last nominated for an Oscar (2001’s In the Bedroom) and it’s high time the Oscar winner return. She could, along with Robert Redford, in Fox Searchlight’s Old Man and the Gun. Spacek has been an outlier contender a couple of time but it never clicked. This could be the one.

Olivia Colman is just about to take over for Claire Foy in The Crown and could be her direct competition here at the Oscars in Fox Searchlight’s The Favourite from Oscar nominee Yorgos Lanthimos.

Vera Farmiga (The Front Runner) and Laura Dern (JT Leroy) are both looking for another nomination to add to their lists and Michelle Yeoh could land a nom if Warner Bros’ Crazy Rich Asians is a hit. In the era of diversity and #OscarsSoWhite the primary focus has been on black performers but it’s important to recognize that Asian and Asian-American actors and actresses (as well as Hispanic and Latino) are often left out of that conversation entirely. There hasn’t been an Asian actress nominated in this category since Rinko Kikuchi for 2006’s Babel. Downsizing‘s Hong Chau got close last year with SAG and Golden Globe nominations but missed out in the end. It’s a glaring oversight of opportunity and representation that needs to be rectified.

Elsewhere, Cynthia Erivo could find the missing piece of her EGOT, the Oscar, with her supporting turn in Widows from 20th Century Fox. Janelle Monáe, so good in Hidden Figures and Moonlight, could be the female hit in The Women of Marwen from Universal. Ruth Negga might be looking at another nomination, this time for 20th Century Fox’s Ad Astra. Emmy winner Tatiana Maslany (Orphan Black) could coattail with Nicole Kidman in Neon’s Destroyer. In fact, a handful of supporting actresses could tag along with potential Best Actress nominees: Kristen Wiig, Zoe Chao and Jane Curtain in Amazon’s Where’d You Go, Bernadette; Anna Deavere Smith in Fox Searchlight’s Can You Ever Forgive Me? and don’t ever, ever count out Meryl Streep. Although her role is said to be more of a cameo, keep your eye open for her in Mary Poppins Returns.

Here are the first Best Supporting Actress predictions for the 2019 Oscars.

About Erik Anderson

Erik thanks his mother for his love of all things Oscar, having watched the Academy Awards together since he was in the single digits; making lists, rankings and predictions throughout the show. This led him down the path to obsessing about awards. Much later, he found himself at GoldDerby, led by Tom O’Neill and then migrated over to Oscarwatch (now AwardsDaily), headed up by Sasha Stone before breaking off to create AwardsWatch. He is a member of the International Cinephile Society, GALECA (The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics), the International Press Academy and is the founder/owner of AwardsWatch.

2020 Best Picture Predictions

1917 (Universal) December 25
A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood (Sony/Columbia) November 22
Ford v. Ferrari (20th Century Fox) November 15
Harriet (Focus Features) November 1
The Irishman (Netflix)
Jojo Rabbit (Fox Searchlight) October 18
Just Mercy (Warner Bros.) January 17, 2020
The Laundromat (Netflix)
Little Women (Sony/Columbia) December 25
Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood (Sony/Columbia) July 26

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